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I got curious today as to how much solar electricity our panels have actually produced, at what cost, compared to the production guarantees and projections on the Solar City lease. Not sure if this will be interesting to any one, it is little different than the typical cost benefit analysis as...

DOA. Replace the cells, do use a BMS on the next build and for the QuickBooks bank account entry use the category of "Education".

Apparently nothing prevents it considering its already started as of 2020 with the never ending clot shots.

This can happen with partially cloudy conditions. Its called Cloud Edge Lensing where certain types of clouds can actually magnify solar radiation as they move across the sky but is usually for short periods of time.

Wow, at that price point they wanted to use low cost inverters? Since you are in Utah I would suggest the contractor makes some time on Sunday to attend church and take a refresher course on the 10 commandments, particularly the one about not stealing. They probably did you a favor anyway...

If you are not using closed loop BMS communication different brands can be mixed if they are the same chemistry and number of cells.

I suppose in a public forum its not advisable to recommend someone replace a breaker with one that isn't code compliant but I know what I would do if it was my frozen and refrigerated items that were at risk due to a ridiculous breaker. I can understand using ARC fault in bedrooms but not the...

Sounds like this post should be in the "Up in Smoke" section of the forum. Many inverter type generators support parallel operation but it requires a sync cable. The only way I can think of to successfully parallel 2 older, conventional generators together would be to tie the crank shafts...

The Schneider XW Pro can output 8500W each for 30 min at 25 deg C. from battery only. So 2 of these will definitely outperform the Sol-Ark. As a satisfied Schneider user I'm probably not very objective. I would agree with you that the Sol-Ark is probably easier to install and wire up vs. 2 XW...

Datasheet shows max usable current as "17/17A". I would read that as each MPPT is capable of taking 17A.

So on Jan 27th General Minihan tells the troops war with China is coming in 2 years and coincidentally there is a Chinese Spy balloon discovered over US territory on Jan 28th. Does anyone remember the movie "Wag the Dog". I always thought it was a documentary not satire. But then what do I know...

Many of us use Emporia Vue. Low price vs. features is probably the best value. Some on the forum don't like the fact it is cloud based and doesn't keep 1 second data long enough. This is what I use with 10 CT's. Accuracy is good. IoTaWatt is highly recommended also, costs more but affords more...

There is a "heat island" effect that is well documented in urban environments due to the thermal mass of buildings, concrete and asphalt. Its a localized phenomenon and taken as a percentage of the whole is only about 15% of the land mass which is only 30% of the total surface area, the...

The scenario you describe is called Self Consumption and can yield savings but only in States like CA where Time of Use charges can be 3 to 4 times the off peak rates. In this case, the efficiency losses are more than compensated by the savings of not using utility power during peak times.

Seems like they mean 2,200kWh. Nice design aesthetics. Wonder how these would look and perform stretched across the Southern Border with razor wire on top. I know, controversial subject, couldn't help myself. Issue has been in the news A LOT lately.

Your experience with the BMS is unfortunate because it has left you with the impression a BMS is more trouble than its worth. A properly functioning BMS is stable and is absolutely necessary for LFP cell chemistry. Inverter settings for High and Low Voltage Cut Outs are based on total battery...

I would recommend you go over to YouTube, Off Grid Garage and watch the video series where he did all sorts of charge/discharge testing. Its very informative, real world stuff.

I understand this forum is for DIY Solar, I hope its OK to go off topic a little for educational purposes. This comparison is based on Nat Gas usage. This post is mostly aimed towards new forum members and anyone who is lurking and/or here still learning. Long time forum members and contributors...

I'm sure there is going be A LOT of disagreement about this subject. Strictly speaking the term "grid" specifically refers only to the electric grid. So if the utility transformer is right in front of your house or property or 5 miles away, if you are not connected to it, you are Off-Grid. I...

Unless you need high wattage for faster hot water recovery time the lower wattage element makes a lot of sense. Does the same job just takes a little longer. Regarding heat pump water heaters, they operate with a Coefficient of Performance of at least 2 and higher. Even if you didn't use the...

With 6 batteries you could theoretically charge at 600A as long as the current was divided perfectly equally. That would require some serious wiring and chargers. In practice most of us limit charging to 0.5C max and on a daily basis keep it more in the range of 0.25C. With the 6 batteries 150A...

More like does anyone ever read manuals anymore?

I believe David Poz on YouTube covered this issue a while back.

Conext is a single MPPT. The 3-position terminal is for convenience only. Would be better to do 2 strings of 10 panels assuming that is a 600V controller.

There is a big difference between a 5.4kW and a 8kW system. Seems like you want to base the choice on Brand name and price vs. what you actually need as far as system size to provide adequate solar for your usage. Since this is an Off-Grid system its even more important to size the solar array...

Nice write up and great description of what it means to be off-gird. FWIW, seems like the evaluation of the 5K may be a bit unfair as it was obviously the result of having unrealistic expectations of a 5kW high frequency inverter. There are so many posts on this forum from experienced users...

Since the fuse holder melted at only 71% current its a heat issue caused by a connection with too much resistance.

Ya, laugh if you wish. This is one of those ideas that sounds preposterous to anyone who never got caught up in FE when it became popular starting in 2015. I thought so too until my curiosity kicked in and I started doing some simple experiments myself and researching. My conclusion: We live in...

With the limited information provided (no individual battery or cell data) its just a guess. It sounds like the batteries are not getting fully charged and are probably at different SoCs. Are there any warnings or alarms on any of the batteries such as low voltage shut down? Are the settings...

I'm looking at the time stamps on the posts above. WOW, you guys have a serious solar equipment addiction issue. Maybe we need to form a special group of forum members to provide intervention services. :giggle:

I'm using Enphase Microinverters and they do have the ability to display a graph of temp., voltage, amperage etc. for each panel. If the NEP's have this feature I would first take a look at those values. I would also swap the microinverters on panel 9 & 10 since they are so far apart in...

Not sure who is being referred to as "You" in your post. It sounds like your facts are not accurate, its not the entire system at fault, it sounds like it's only the battery capacity and/or insufficient solar panels to charge them fully. Run time decreased from 12 hours to 5, sure seems like...

So that is about a 4% capacity loss after only 67 cycles, which as you suspected is quite high. However, since there is no historic capacity data from when you initially received the cells, its difficult to determine if they were used or low capacity cells to begin with or have undergone...

Its not clear what you mean by "Powerwall". Specifically that is a Tesla product which combines a battery and inverter in one cabinet but there is nothing special about either the battery or inverter in that particular unit. Sometimes people will refer to other products using the same...

Max is short for Maximum, not sure what the ambiguity in that word would be. What "people" are saying you can go higher? You need to stop listening to them.

Your question is difficult to answer based on the stated goals and lack of AC specifics. How many sq ft need to be cooled and what is the heat load on the room, is the insulation adequate? How many tons is the AC unit. The best choice here would be a high eff. variable speed mini-split system...

Interesting tech, would love to have this at home making some extra Diesel fuel for the Dodge Cummins engine. BTW, Carbon Dioxide is NOT pollution. Its plant food as in without it we don't eat. Yes, some of the byproducts of combustion like Carbon Monoxide and Nitrogen Oxides or Sulfer from...

Well that's interesting. Unfortunately its just more "Smoke and Mirrors". Ultimately it means nothing. Before anyone accuses me of being a too negative, here are some facts that most people don't know, even Californians. This subject has already been discussed here on the forum under the heading...

You have to use a good hand held multimeter, measure the actual voltage on the batt + and - terminals. Then the accurate value can be manually entered in the BMS set up menu where the number of cells, batt capacity etc. are put in by the user.

150V is the PV input voltage and 30A is the Battery charging Output current at 12, 24 or 48V depending on your battery voltage. The Victron datasheets will list the maximum watts each charge controller model is capable of. Any brand of inverter will either derate itself or just shut down due to...

If you were to use an inverter that AC couples to the Load Output of the inverter (not the Gen input) via a breaker in the same main or subpanel. Then it should be possible to consume 100% of both AC coupled power as well as the full output of the inverter, either AC pass-thru or battery power.

That is not how it works. A US breaker panel that is rated at 100, 125, 200, 225, 400A Etc is a per bus bar rating. So split phase has 2 bus bars and 3 phase has 3 bus bars. In both cases each bus bar is rated at the same value as stated on the panel. So a 100A split phase panel has a 2 pole...

I'm not seeing any prohibition in the wording at all. Its actually the opposite. That section is simply giving permission to attach a 120V source to a 120/240V panel but only if there are no 240V outlets or multi-branch circuits that share a neutral. In other words it gives permission to...

Same way they forced health insurance on all of us. Simply ignore the constitution and legal precedent. Wait a little while and discover there are no consequences. Rinse and repeat.

There is also going to be losses in the DCDC converter for any DC appliances that are not 48V as is the battery. Stick with 120V appliances, they are relatively inexpensive and available vs. specialty DC appliances.

Grounding is not difficult, the confusion is due to the word "ground" being used in several different contexts but no one ever qualifies it as they should. 1 System Ground 2 Equipment Ground 3 Earth Ground 4 Negative side of the battery and chassis of a vehicle being referred to as ground with...

It may be educational to watch a few videos of electric cars on fire. The intensity is truly stunning. A BMS is absolutely necessary especially with Li-NMC chemistry. Those are the cells that operate at 3.7V nominal. They are not as safe as LiFePO4 which operate at 3.2V nominal.

? A clarification that doesn't apply to your situation specifically. If more than 3 conductors are in a conduit then the ampacity has to be derated. In this case the Ground wire(s) is not counted.

You must be referring to operation "Blue Beam".

There is nothing special about the PDP, in that it doesn't have any circuit boards or components necessary for the operation of the Inverters. All of the functionality of a PDP could be duplicated with components from Midnight Solar or others, but based on the price of the PDP and how much time...